100km Foods Chef Profile – Jason & Nicole Sawatsky, The Yellow Pear

Welcome to the fifth, and final, profile in
our chef series! Jason and Nicole Sawatsky are the Chef owners of The Yellow
Pear in St. Catharines, ON. The Yellow Pear represents many iterations of
farm-to-table food: it is a food truck, event catering, AND an extremely
popular brunch spot in St. Catharines, ON.

Chefs Jay and Nicole’s paths to becoming
chefs were very similar ones. They both loved food and loved learning how to
cook early in their childhoods. It was always expected by everyone who knew
them that they’d pursue careers in the food industry. They first met each other
when they were in culinary school together and ended up being assigned as lab
partners. They immediately connected, but at the time, Nicole was in a
relationship with someone else. School ended and they parted ways, forging
their own paths working in kitchens across Toronto and Southern Ontario. A few
years later, Nicole reached out again to Jay on a whim to ask him on a date.
Two weeks later, they’d moved in together! Now, they are coming up to their ten
year wedding anniversary.

The Evolution of The Yellow Pear

They began The Yellow Pear back in 2013. So
named, by the way, after a variety of heirloom tomato they grew in their
backyard! By that point, they’d both worked in an array of restaurants and
settled in St. Catharines. They wanted to work for themselves but didn’t yet
feel they were in a position to take on the financial risk of a
bricks-and-mortar restaurant. They settled on the idea of a farm-to-fork food
truck, doing mostly event catering. Being based in St. Catherines and so close
to Niagara-on-the-lake, they decided they’d drive their truck to farms in the
region and base their event menus on what was available at the time. Fun fact:
theirs was the first solar powered, propane free, generator free food truck in
North America!

Their concept behind The Yellow Pear turned
out to be an enormous success, and they very quickly built up their event
business focusing on catering weddings. They’d sit down with the bride and
groom and get a sense of what kind of meals they wanted to serve, but they left
it up to chance and only created the final menu based off what Nicole and Jay
could source from farms that week. As Nicole explains, they wanted to ‘give
them something they’re not going to get at home or anywhere. Let’s make it
special.’ It’s easier to do that ‘when you have great ingredients.’ They still
cater weddings and the menus continue to be made with at least 90% Ontario
grown ingredients. That’s spectacular!

Eventually, their business expanded to the
point where they needed a prep kitchen & storage space. They hadn’t
actually decided on opening a sit-down restaurant until they were shown the
location by their realtor, and they realized it would make a perfect brunch
spot. Thus, The Yellow Pear opened its doors back in October 2017.

They’ve been in the food business for a
long time now, and to stay motivated, there are two things that play a big
role. One, they feel lucky to live on the doorstep of the lush Niagara region.
Being so close to so many farms and wineries keeps them connected to their
vision. Second, seeing what their peers are doing with local food continues to
inspire them.

100km Foods is their core supplier, since
they curate a menu that is over 90% local. In the early days, Nicole would
drive around to each farm herself. But as their business grew, that became
impossible to continue. 100km Foods was an ‘amazing’ fit for them, letting them
continue to source products from some of the same farmers as before and be
introduced to new ones.

We asked their advice to sourcing local and planning seasonally. Jay says ‘you have to be smart about it!’ Nicole, who does the ordering, says ‘It’s pretty easy with 100km. Financially, it all works out.’ This is in part because the labour time needed to work with the ingredients is less, since they are of such ‘high quality.’ When it comes to being seasonal, they have a lot of flexibility. Nicole and Jay develop their specials and their menus based on what is available and switch it up all the time. They love the ability to showcase their creativity in this way, which keeps it exciting for them! One of the things they love best is the excitement they share with their diners, who are often being introduced to heirloom varieties of vegetables they may never have eaten before.

Favourite products?

Since Jay and Nicole source almost entirely
from 100km, they have plenty of favourite products. They love the eggs from Homestead,
Seed to Sausage products, the Sheldon Creek and Harmony dairy products –
especially the egg nog! K2 milling products are a huge hit, as well. They love
the New Farm greens and one of their newest favourites is Planet Shrimp. For
the food truck events especially, they LOVE the Welsh Bros Corn. Nicole loves
the huge cheese selection, saying a recent favourite of hers has been the Game
Changer from Stonetown Cheese.

When it comes to what they love to cook,
Jay and Nicole both said Welsh Bros. sweet corn is one of their favourites.
They do a Mexican-style street corn off their truck and some weeks they go
through hundreds of cobs. They also get pallets of firewood from Warner’s Farm
to cook and grill over the fire in the summer months.

Next, our question that stumped everyone!
Who would they have dinner with, dead or alive? Jay decided he would like to
have dinner with his Oma, who was a huge influence on Jay growing up and a
wonderful home cook. Nicole decided on Lady Gaga! Nicole said Lady Gaga seems like
she’d enjoy a variety of food, and Nicole would take it one step further and
would love to cook for her someday!

If they weren’t chefs, what would they be doing?

Jay said once upon a time, he considered
being an architect. But now, if he wasn’t a chef, he’s certain he’d still be
connected to food by becoming a farmer. At the end of the day though, Jay says
‘I’ve never really second guessed my career, so I haven’t really thought about
that. No, I love my job. It’s hard work, but I love my job.’ Nicole said she’d
still like to be a chef, but she’d love to ‘be a chef in Europe!’ She admires
and respects the food culture in Europe and would love to learn from the chefs in
that region.

We had a fantastic time sitting down with
Jay and Nicole. They are such a great team and are transforming the food scene
in their corner of St. Catharines. They have woven local food into their
business every step of the way, and we are so impressed by their steadfast
commitment – so of course they are a wonderful addition to our group of
ambassadors! Next time you’re in St. Catharines, we recommend making a
reservation at The Yellow Pear for brunch!